George Cooper Sr.
George Cooper Sr. was the father of Sheldon Cooper, George Cooper Jr. and Missy Cooper, and husband of Mary Cooper. He has been described by Sheldon through most of The Big Bang Theory as an almost-redneck, "Homer Simpson" Texan. He died in 1994, approximately 13 years before the series began. Series Overview The Big Bang Theory When Sheldon was 12, he did a series of experiments involving the height of stairs. He increased the height of some stairs by 2 millimeters and as a result George tripped and broke his clavicle ("Pilot"). Mary claims that he wasn't so wise and once tried to fight a bobcat for some licorice. Sheldon claims that his father used to make him watch and play football, since it was popular in Texas, despite Sheldon's lack of interest for it; however the learning of the sport gave Sheldon something to know about other than science. His father was a high school football coach. George also taught Sheldon how to cook meat as if it were chicken, and archery (which gives Sheldon a smell of K-Mart bourbon whenever he plays it, implying his father was drinking while teaching) and how to shoot close enough to a raccoon that it "craps itself." He also claimed that his father and mother had an imploding marriage as they fought almost all the time, which traumatized him a lot when he was a child. It turns out that he hated the name Sheldon and only named him that for his wife. Sheldon once mentioned Missy gave their father a "World's Greatest Dad" coffee mug, suggesting that his sister got along with their father better than he did. Sheldon went on to describe George's parenting skills as "coasting 'til the day he died". When he would fight with his wife the elder George would sometimes skeet shoot her vintage Franklin Mint collectible plates on the roof, while she shouted that Jesus would forgive her if she put ground glass in his meatloaf. It is also mentioned that he liked to drink Bourbon a lot as he drunk it during Sheldon's archery lessons, he would hide it in Pepsi cans and that Mary would leave him if he didn't stop drinking. When their marriage was imploding, she dived into religion and he literately dived into "a bottle blonde bartender" who would try to buy Sheldon's love with action figures. In "The Rhinitis Revelation", Mary and Sheldon imply that as a result of her cooking, he died at 50 years old of weight-related issues. In "The Weekend Vortex", Sheldon claims that his dad told him, "Shelly, women are nothing, but flipping pains in the bottom"; however, Sheldon said he lightened it up and it is possible that what he really said was "Shelly, women are nothing but fucking pains in the ass". In "The Fish Guts Displacement", Sheldon tells Amy that his brother would sneak into George's truck and drink his driving whiskey. In "The Egg Salad Equivalency", while dealing with Alex Jensen asking Leonard out he quote his father: My father used to say that a woman is like an egg salad sandwich on a warm Texas day. Using his father's philosophy about women, he gets in trouble with Alex and the Caltech Human Resources Department. In "The Raiders Minimization", Sheldon says that his mother would put hamster poop in his father's tobacco when he used to drink. In "The Thanksgiving Decoupling", Sheldon told Bernadette's father that his father died when he was 14. He also admitted his father made him watch football games before he let him do his homework and during the 1993 Thanksgiving game in Dallas he was so angry with the results he shot his television. Sheldon also admits he never got to share a beer with his father, though his father did try when he graduated high school but his mother wouldn't let him because he was eleven. Also when he died the man who owned the local liquor store cried for a long time. In "The Proton Transmogrification", when Sheldon is talking to the recently deceased Arthur Jeffries (a.k.a Professor Proton) in his dream, he brings up the past 11 Doctor Who's, Pop-Pop, as well as his father as the most important men in his life (aside from Arthur himself) who are now gone forever. In "The Comic Book Store Regeneration", after the gang receives the bad news that Howard's mother died in her sleep, Sheldon surprisingly gives Howard some words of comfort: by stating "When I lost my own father, I didn't have any friends to help me through it. You do." These words caused Howard to smile as Sheldon could relate to his grief while surprising the others with his understanding. In "The Maternal Combustion", Mary says that one time when she was going to church and pregnant with Sheldon, she prayed that her son was smarter than his dumb-ass daddy and she saw a bobble-head of Jesus in the next car nodding yes. In "The Hot Tub Contamination", Sheldon tells Penny a part of his past and it's revealed that when Sheldon was 13 and taking a break from college, he came home one day finding his father sleeping with another woman. The event traumatized a young Sheldon who ran to his room and the two never spoke of the incident again. This is the reason why Sheldon knocks three times (the first is courtesy while the second and third times giving that person a chance to "put their pants on"). In "The Brain Bowl Incubation", Leonard reveals that Sheldon's father once picked a fight with a cactus. In "The Sibling Realignment", Sheldon's brother Georgie tells him that after their father died, Georgie was the one who had to take care of everything and look after Mary and Missy and after learning the truth, Sheldon apologises to his brother. In "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", just before Sheldon's wedding, he says he misses his father. Mary also says she wishes he could see Sheldon and that he would've been proud of Sheldon. In "The VCR Illumination", after Leonard finds the Russian paper that says the Super-Asymmetry is not worth pursuing, both he and Amy get very depressed. Leonard locates an emergency VHS tape made by Sheldon when he was eleven. His character from "Young Sheldon" tries to give him a pep talk, but it was recorded over by his father with one of his football games. Amy keeps watching it and then finds his father's halftime pep talk, which does help Sheldon. His father tells the team that they’re not going to win this game, but that that does not make them losers. They can learn from failure as much as they can learn from success. Sheldon is encouraged and even thanks his dead father in the end. Young Sheldon In Young Sheldon George is the head football coach at Medford High School. George does not share Sheldon's intellect, sometimes leading others, especially Meemaw, to doubt him being Sheldon's father. However, he is often the voice of reason for Sheldon. Though he may struggle with understanding his intellectually gifted son, he is a loving father and has defended Sheldon on multiple occasions, earning Sheldon's love and appreciation. He is often teased by Meemaw because she feels he is not good enough for her daughter. George often spends his time with Georgie and, unlike Mary, does not encourage Sheldon's behavior. Families *'Father:' Mr. Cooper *'Mother:' Mrs. Cooper *'Sister:' Unnamed *'Brother-in-law:' Unnamed *'Father-in-law:' Pop-Pop *'Mother-in-law:' Meemaw *'Brother-in-law:' Carl *'Brother-in-law:' Edward *'Wife:' Mary Cooper *'Son:' George Cooper Jr. *'Son:' Sheldon Cooper *'Daughter:' Missy Cooper *'Daughter-in-law:' Amy Farrah Fowler *'Grandson by Missy' *'Unborn Grandchild by Missy' *'Son-in-law - Missy's husband' Trivia *In "The Pancake Batter Anomaly" (S1E11), Sheldon said at the age of 15, he got sick in Germany, and his mother had to fly back to Texas to help his dad at that time. This creates a continuity error in the episodes "The Thanksgiving Decoupling" (S7E9) and "The Proton Transmogrification" (S7E22) because Sheldon mentions to Bernadette's father Mike and to Professor Proton, respectively, that his father died when he was 14. *He appears to have had a sister as seen on Sheldon's board in "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification" (S4E2). Also, the board says George died at the age of 42. This seemingly causes a continuity error in "The Rhinitis Revelation" (S5E6) where Mary says that he died at age 50 when saying to Penny "The real way to get a man is with melted cheese and cream of mushroom soup. He’ll die at 50 but his love will be true." *In "The Sales Call Sublimation" (S9E12), Sheldon claims that his father used to work in a store, but later got fired because he was stealing money from the cash register, something that Sheldon ratted him out for. **In Young Sheldon, there was a similar experience, where George Sr. reported rule breaking, which led to a firing from that job. *In "The Convergence-Convergence" (S9E24), Mary compared Sheldon's father to a Neanderthal. *He and Mary Cooper were unhappily married for a long time. He even had a couple affairs, which she was aware of, but an unhappy marriage seemed to be a lie. **An article on Screenrant appears to confirm that Sheldon was lying and exaggerating his father's personality, his parents' marriage and his family in general, as well as events involving them. As seen in Young Sheldon, he is shown as a loving husband and father, having a loving relationship with Missy and even giving Sheldon valuable life-lessons. He straightened out Georgie when he was wrong, and was quite affectionate towards Mary from time to time (https://screenrant.com/big-bang-theory-young-sheldon-crossover-plot-hole). *Lance Barber, who portrays George in Young Sheldon, also portrayed Leonard's high school bully Jimmy Speckerman in "The Speckerman Recurrence". *His affair is the reason Sheldon knocks three times on the door since seeing the event traumatized him. Gallery Vill53.jpg|We may not win this game. Vill54.jpg|But you’re not losers. Vill55.jpg|Don't swear. Vill59.jpg|Your Mom's taping. ‧ Category:Characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Fathers Category:Grandfathers Category:Cooper Family Category:Redneck Category:Texas Category:Season 1 Category:Season 5 Category:Season 6 Category:Season 7 Category:Season 8 Category:The Big Bang Theory Category:Sheldon's parents Category:Season 2 Category:Season 3 Category:Season 4 Category:Season 9 Category:Season 10 Category:Drunk Category:Deceased Category:Young Sheldon Category:Reference Materials